2014 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament of Manly Men - Page 95

On February 22 2014 04:43 L1ghtning wrote:

wut? If there's anything Kessel can do, it's score goals. He just didn't get any chances in this game.

I don't understand how you're supposed to score on a team that has Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester, Vlasic and Weber on their blue line. It looks like the swedish coaching staff has their work cut out for them.

On February 22 2014 09:00 lamprey1 wrote:
Glenn Healy might as well shave his legs.. put on a mini-skirt and grab a couple of pom-poms because he ain't no analyst for CBC he is a team canada cheerleader.

On February 22 2014 09:45 Darpa wrote:



Not that i disagree, sweden is a strong team, but in 1994 there were no NHL players, and in 2002 Canada won.

On February 22 2014 05:21 L1ghtning wrote:

That's not even comparable to us losing Zetterberg. You have a ton of other stars to fall back on. We don't.

In 60 minutes, the Americans were transformed from a team that had utilized the larger ice surface in Sochi into one that looked offensively uncreative. You can count on one hand the number of quality chances the U.S. had against Carey Price; you can count on one finger the number of long passes that connected from their defensive zone to the attacking zone: Kevin Shattenkirk hitting Patrick Kane on a three-zone pass in the second period.

3. Nothing In Front Of Price

Carey Price made 31 saves, but was quick to credit his defense for making many of them easy.

“That defensive group in front of me played very well,” he said. “They’re very good at boxing guys out and let me have my eyes. Our forwards backchecked really hard tonight. I think that was the difference.”

This really was the difference in the game. The Americans had amassed 20 goals in the tournament with speed, playing chip-and-chase against lesser foes. But Canada’s blue line wouldn’t allow them any time to set up a cycle, nor would they allow any time to set up in front of Price.

“I think it was maybe a little too perimeter and not much traffic in front of their net,” said David Backes. “Kudos to them for keeping us to the outside, but we’ve got to find ways to get to the inside and make things happens. There was not enough of that tonight. As a result, we don’t get any goals and you can’t win when you don’t score.”

No kidding. The Canadians simply didn’t allow the U.S. offense a sniff all night. The game was 1-0; the margin of victory felt much larger.

“They managed the puck pretty well and played a real suffocating style of defense. We didn’t battle through it in quite the ways we needed to to have success. The result is no second and third chances that we’ve been scoring on earlier,” said Backes.

• Carey Price didn't need to work. The Americans entered Friday's semifinal game as with the most goals in the tournament. Yet, Canada kept the U.S. opportunities limited to the outside, denied them any sort of net front presence and didn't allow any rebound chances that could have led to goals. The power play setup (0-for-3) also failed to create any good scoring chances.

On February 22 2014 17:10 Canucklehead wrote:
What a dominating performance by canada over the US. Total control all game.